Timber chain of custody on a furniture package: what Australia's rules require
Eight tariff codes in Chapter 94 bring furniture inside Australia's illegal logging rules. What the importer has to gather, what certified has to mean, and the six lines to put in a tender.
Eight tariff codes in Chapter 94 bring furniture inside Australia's illegal logging rules: upholstered and other seats with wooden frames, wooden office, kitchen, bedroom and other wooden furniture, parts of wooden furniture, and wooden prefabricated buildings. Whoever imports a product under one of those codes has to run a written due diligence process before the goods land, and keep the records for five years. A consignment is exempt only where the total customs value of the regulated timber products in it does not exceed AUD 1,000, which no commercial furniture order reaches. Certification shortens the risk assessment, but only where the finished product sits inside the supplier's certificate, not where a component does.
None of that is the specifier's legal duty. It is the importer's. But it is the specifier's problem, because the evidence that satisfies it is the same evidence a Green Star submission, a government tender or a client's modern slavery questionnaire will ask for, and it is far easier to require at tender than to reconstruct after a container has cleared.
What the rules cover, and the eight codes that catch furniture
The Illegal Logging Prohibition Rules 2024 define a regulated timber product by tariff code, not by how much timber is in it. Section 5 lists 47 items drawn from four chapters of the tariff: Chapter 44 wood and articles of wood, Chapter 47 wood pulp, Chapter 48 paper and paperboard, and Chapter 94 furniture. Eight of the 47 are the ones a furniture schedule touches.
| Item | Tariff code | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | 9401.61.00 | Other seats, with wooden frames: upholstered |
| 41 | 9401.69.00 | Other seats, with wooden frames: other |
| 42 | 9403.30.00 | Wooden furniture of a kind used in offices |
| 43 | 9403.40.00 | Wooden furniture of a kind used in the kitchen |
| 44 | 9403.50.00 | Wooden furniture of a kind used in the bedroom |
| 45 | 9403.60.00 | Other wooden furniture |
| 46 | 9403.91.00 | Parts of other furniture, of wood |
| 47 | 9406.10.00 | Prefabricated buildings, of wood |
Read that list against a real schedule and the gaps are as informative as the entries. A timber framed visitor chair and a veneered meeting table are inside it. So is a loose timber component shipped on its own, under item 46. The panel products that most desking is built from are inside the regime too, under Chapter 44: particle board at 4410, fibreboard at 4411, plywood and veneered panels at 4412, and veneer sheets at 4408. What the Chapter 94 list does not contain is any heading for swivel seats, which is where a height adjustable task chair on a five star base is classified. The regime follows the tariff code on the import declaration, so two chairs standing side by side on the same floor can sit on opposite sides of it.
That is a reason to ask the question product by product rather than brand by brand. It is also a reason not to accept a blanket statement that a range is or is not covered.
The four steps, and what has to be gathered before the goods move
The due diligence process the department sets out has four steps, and the fourth is the one that fails audits. The department's own fact sheet for importers puts them this way: gather information and evidence, assess the risk, mitigate the risk where it is not low, and "keep records of all the steps you took in the due diligence process for at least five years".
Section 8(3) of the Rules sets out what has to be obtained before import, as far as is reasonably practicable. It is a short list, and every line of it is something a furniture supplier either has on file or does not.
| Line | What it means on a furniture order |
|---|---|
| Product description, including type and trade name | The model and the code you are ordering, not the family name |
| Common name and scientific name of the tree | The botanical species, for every timber element in the product |
| Country, and the area of the country, of harvest | Where the tree was cut, not where the factory is |
| Country of processing or manufacture | Where it was sawn, pressed, laminated or assembled |
| Supplier name, address, trading name and business registration number | The entity that sold it, identified well enough to check in a scheme database |
| Quantity of the shipment, by volume, weight or units | Per consignment, which is also what the AUD 1,000 test is applied to |
| The sales or delivery document | Invoice or delivery docket, carrying any certification claim |
The risk assessment then differs depending on whether the product is certified. For a product that is not certified, section 8(6) requires the importer to consider the species and its conservation status including the CITES appendices, and conditions in the harvest area including illegal logging, armed conflict, corruption and forest governance, alongside any relevant country specific guideline. Where the assessed risk is not low, section 8(8) requires a reasonable and proportionate mitigation process, a reassessment of the risk, and a written record of both.
Mitigation is also where good intentions stop counting. The department is explicit that relying on a supplier's plan to become certified is not mitigation. Sourcing a lower risk product, changing suppliers or declining to import are.
The repeat exception, and why it is narrower than it sounds
Section 8(10) carries an exception for repeat imports: where the product, the supplier and the key information are unchanged within 12 months and there has been no significant change in circumstances, the earlier process can stand. It still has to be recorded in writing. On a fitout that is useful for a repeat order of the same chair from the same supplier. It does nothing for a new finish, a new species or a new factory, which is exactly what a project specific made to order run is.
What changed on 3 March 2025
The Illegal Logging Prohibition Amendment (Strengthening Measures to Prevent Illegal Timber Trade) Act 2024 received Royal Assent on 17 September 2024 and took effect on 3 March 2025. The Illegal Logging Prohibition Rules 2024 replaced the 2012 Regulation on the same date, and the compiled Act now carries 3 March 2025 as its compilation date. Four changes matter to anyone buying furniture.
- The new due diligence requirements apply to regulated timber products imported on or after 3 March 2025. A system written against the old Regulation is out of date.
- Country specific guidelines are no longer a stand-alone risk assessment method. They are one factor among several that must be considered, and the department states plainly that an importer cannot rely solely on the documents listed in a guideline.
- The department can use timber testing technologies to verify species and origin claims at the border and under warrant. A species named on a declaration is now a testable claim.
- The notice requirements in the Amendment Act are not yet active. They start once a new departmental IT system is operational and a start date is prescribed. Until then the obligation is the due diligence itself, not a notification.
The prohibition on importing illegally logged timber is separate from, and wider than, the due diligence regime. It applies to all timber products, whether or not they are on the regulated list.
What failing it actually costs
The figures are worth knowing, because they are the reason a supplier's answer to the evidence question is sometimes evasive. The Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012 separates two things: importing timber that was in fact illegally logged, and importing a regulated timber product without having done the due diligence. The second does not require anything to be wrong with the timber. The process is the obligation.
| Provision | Conduct | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Section 9(1) | Importing a regulated timber product that is, is made from or includes illegally logged timber, fault based | 5 years imprisonment or 500 penalty units, or both |
| Section 9(3) | The same conduct, strict liability | 60 penalty units |
| Section 9(4) | The same conduct, civil penalty provision | 100 penalty units |
| Section 12(1) | Importing a regulated timber product without complying with the due diligence requirements, fault based | 300 penalty units |
| Section 12(2) | The same conduct, strict liability | 60 penalty units |
| Section 12(3) | The same conduct, civil penalty provision | 100 penalty units |
| Section 10 | Forfeiture of the goods, on a conviction or civil penalty order under section 8 or 9 | All or any part of the thing, to the Commonwealth |
A penalty unit is AUD 364 for an offence committed on or after 1 July 2026, set by the Crimes (Amount of a Penalty Unit) Instrument 2026 under section 4AA of the Crimes Act 1914. On that figure the fault based due diligence offence runs to AUD 109,200 for an individual, and section 4B of the Crimes Act allows a court to impose up to five times the maximum pecuniary penalty on a body corporate. Forfeiture under section 10 attaches to the illegally logged timber offences in sections 8 and 9, not to a due diligence failure on its own.
For a furniture package the practical reading is narrow and useful. Nobody is going to prosecute a specifier. But a supplier that cannot produce species, origin and a scope statement is a supplier carrying that exposure, and an importer under that kind of pressure is the one most likely to substitute a species quietly at the factory.
Certified, and what certified actually has to mean
Section 8(4) sets a precise test for treating a product as certified, and it is stricter than a logo on a brochure. The importer must have obtained a copy of a record from a database maintained by the Forest Stewardship Council or by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification showing that the regulated timber product, and any species the record refers to, fall within the scope of the certification held by the supplier. The importer must have verified that the supplier details and the other details in the record are true and correct. And the importer must have obtained from that supplier a sales or delivery document carrying a certification claim consistent with that record.
Three things follow for a furniture package. The certificate has to be the supplier's, checked in the scheme's own database rather than taken from a PDF. The claim has to appear on the invoice or delivery docket, not only in a brochure. And the scope has to cover the product. The department's position on composite products is that the risk assessment must address the final whole product, and that "it is not sufficient for individual components to be certified".
That last point is the one that quietly undoes most furniture submissions. An FSC claim on the plywood that forms a seat shell is a claim about the plywood. The chair is a different product, made by a different entity, and unless that entity holds chain of custody certification with the chair in scope, the chair is not certified. The same logic applies to a veneered table top: the veneer, the substrate, the pressed panel and the finished table can each be a separate product in a separate certificate.
| Scheme | Published claim | What the scheme says it identifies |
|---|---|---|
| FSC | FSC 100% | Products "made of 100% virgin material from FSC-certified forests" |
| FSC | FSC Mix | Products made with a combination of FSC virgin fibre, recycled material and controlled virgin fibre |
| FSC | FSC Recycled | Products "made with 100% recycled fibre" |
| PEFC | 100% PEFC Origin | One of four claims a PEFC national body lists as the only acceptable claims for PEFC certified timber |
| PEFC | PEFC Certified | As above |
| PEFC | X% PEFC Certified | As above, with the percentage stated |
| PEFC | PEFC Recycled | As above |
One figure is deliberately absent from that table. Neither scheme states, on its public label pages, the minimum percentage of certified or recycled input that sits behind an FSC Mix or a PEFC Certified claim. PEFC's United Kingdom body notes that 70 per cent is the minimum claim accepted by most construction standards, specifications and labels, which is a statement about those standards rather than about the claim itself. So a submission should record the claim exactly as it appears on the invoice, and where a percentage matters, require it in writing. Inferring a percentage from a label is guessing.
Specifier's note. Ask for the claim against the code you are ordering, in writing, on the quotation. Three traps follow from the way the Rules are drafted. A certificate covering a component does not cover the finished piece. A claim that was true for the ash version of a chair is not automatically true for the walnut version, because scope attaches to species and product, not to a family name. And manufacturing by-products are not recycled material: the Rules treat sawdust and off-cuts used in particle board or MDF as non-recycled, so a board described as made from mill residue still carries the full due diligence obligation. Put the claim wording in the finishes schedule beside the finish code, and the problem is solved at tender instead of at the border.
FSC, PEFC and Responsible Wood: what sits behind the label here
Only two schemes are named in section 8(4): FSC and PEFC. In Australia the PEFC side is reached through Responsible Wood, which maintains the Australian standards and is the PEFC national governing body here. Two standards matter.
- AS/NZS 4708 Sustainable Forest Management, 2021 edition, is the forest management standard. It is what a forest is certified against.
- AS 4707:2021 Chain of Custody of Forest and Tree-based Products is the chain of custody standard. It is what a manufacturer, a distributor or a merchant is certified against.
The distinction is worth holding on to, because the two get used interchangeably in furniture marketing and they answer different questions. A forest management certificate says something about where the tree came from. A chain of custody certificate says something about whether the business that handled the timber can substantiate a claim about it. For a furniture package, chain of custody is the one that has to reach the product you are buying.
Where this bites hardest is on the pieces chosen for their timber. A bentwood chair, a solid ash frame and a veneered table top are all specified partly because the timber is visible, and all three are the products most likely to sit under one of the eight Chapter 94 codes. The TON bentwood range is a useful example of how narrowly the question has to be asked: a family can run across several species and several finishes, and the evidence has to name the one on your schedule. The same applies across the Pedrali range, where the published certification results attach to a specific article code and a specific timber rather than to the family: the results for the Pedrali Nemea chair, articles 2820 to 2829, are published as valid in the ash version and not the American walnut. A piece like the Isley ottoman, whose published description names an FSC certified plywood frame, is the easier case, and even there the claim worth recording is the one that arrives on the invoice.
This also sets the boundary with the wider claims question. Our guide to environmental claims on commercial furniture, and which ones can be checked covers the ISO claim types, ecolabels and environmental product declarations, which are a separate evidence set with separate rules. Timber legality is narrower and harder: it is a question of lawful harvest and traceability, and an ecolabel is not a substitute for it.
What is not timber, and what is not regulated
The exclusions are specific enough to change a schedule, and several of them run against intuition.
- Several plant materials are not timber under these laws: bark, cork, osier, vegetable parchment, rice, bamboo, sugarcane and rattan. A rattan lounge chair and a bamboo table top sit outside the definition, which is an argument for the material on a procurement form and nothing at all on the sustainability of the product.
- Fully recycled products are exempt, where the product is entirely made from recycled material or all of its timber and timber derived parts are recycled. Timber is recycled if it has been, or has been part of, another thing and has ceased to be that thing.
- Mixed products are not exempt. Where a product contains both recycled and non-recycled timber, due diligence is still required for the non-recycled parts.
- Packaging is outside the regime where it supports, protects or carries the product, unless the packaging is itself the main product being imported under a regulated code.
- Musical instruments and sporting goods are outside the definition of a regulated timber product, as are personal effects imported under the personal effects tariff code.
The packaging exclusion is narrow and it is not an environmental free pass: the crates, pallets and cartons a furniture install generates are a separate problem with their own reporting, covered in our note on packaging and site waste on a furniture install.
Six lines for the timber section of a furniture package
The useful output of all of this is not a policy statement. It is six lines a tender can be marked against, and they are short enough to sit in a specification without a legal review.
| Require | Why |
|---|---|
| Botanical species for every timber element, by product code | Section 8(3) requires the common and scientific name, and species is now testable at the border |
| Country and area of harvest, and country of processing | Both are separate required lines, and they are frequently different places |
| Chain of custody certificate number, with the finished product in scope | A component certificate does not cover the assembled piece |
| The certification claim as it will appear on the invoice | Section 8(4) requires the claim on the sales or delivery document |
| Confirmation that a written due diligence system exists for the product | A chain of custody manual on its own does not meet the obligation |
| Agreement to provide the records on request for five years | The record keeping period in section 8(11) runs five years from the day of import |
Those lines also travel. A government submission wants the same certificate numbers and scopes it wants for everything else, which is the point made in our guide to how government actually buys office furniture: the panel does not establish the evidence, the evidence establishes the panel entry.
Frequently asked
Does a specifier have a legal duty under Australia's illegal logging laws?
No. The due diligence duty under the Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012 and the Illegal Logging Prohibition Rules 2024 falls on the importer of the regulated timber product, and separately on a processor of raw logs. A specifier has no statutory duty, but the evidence that satisfies the importer's duty is the same evidence a tender, a Green Star submission or a client questionnaire will ask for, so it is worth requiring at tender.
Which furniture is a regulated timber product?
Eight tariff codes in Chapter 94 are listed in section 5 of the Illegal Logging Prohibition Rules 2024: 9401.61.00 upholstered seats with wooden frames, 9401.69.00 other seats with wooden frames, 9403.30.00 wooden office furniture, 9403.40.00 wooden kitchen furniture, 9403.50.00 wooden bedroom furniture, 9403.60.00 other wooden furniture, 9403.91.00 parts of wooden furniture, and 9406.10.00 wooden prefabricated buildings. Panel products such as particle board, fibreboard, plywood and veneer are regulated separately under Chapter 44.
Does an FSC claim on the plywood make the chair FSC certified?
No. The department's position on composite products is that the risk assessment must address the final whole product, and that it is not sufficient for individual components to be certified. Unless the business that made the chair holds chain of custody certification with that chair in scope, the chair is not certified.
What is the penalty for importing without due diligence?
Section 12 of the Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012 sets a fault based offence at 300 penalty units, a strict liability offence at 60 penalty units and a civil penalty at 100 penalty units. A penalty unit is AUD 364 for an offence committed on or after 1 July 2026, so 300 units is AUD 109,200 for an individual, and a court may impose up to five times that on a body corporate under section 4B of the Crimes Act 1914.
Are bamboo and rattan covered?
No. Bark, cork, osier, vegetable parchment, rice, bamboo, sugarcane and rattan are not considered timber under these laws, so a product made from them is outside the regulated timber product definition. That is a statement about the scope of the legislation and not a statement about the sustainability of the material.
Where this lands on a drawing
If you are specifying timber furniture for an Australian project and you want the timber evidence sorted before it becomes a variation, send us the schedule and we will come back with the species, the harvest and processing countries and the chain of custody position for each line, product code by product code. Talk to our team about a timber furniture schedule and we will work through it with you.